Death Is Not The End
by Misgiving Writer
Summary: They are different as can be, Watersong and Blizzardpelt. Oppisites in every way, shape, and form. Yet this? This is something that only they can do. Someone that only they can save - no matter what they, or anyone else, thinks.
1. Prologue

A/N: Hello, everyone! This is the first part of a story written for the Warriors Challenge Forum (link in profile). It is for the _Until Death Do Us Part_ challenge, set up by _Hunter of Sacred Dreams_. It was really fun to write, and I hope that this story will go the same way that I want it to. Enjoy!

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"Hello?" Roselight calls. Her voice echoes, as though she's in a cave and not a forest. The trees swallow her word, holds it for but a second, and then spits it back out in a twisted symphony. "Leafpatch?"

There is no answer save the echo. The noise sets her on edge, the hackles of her dark ginger pelt rising. The forest that she has woken in isn't normal, nor is it the forest that the StarClan medicine cat normally meets her in. The night sky is pitch black with not a single star in sight, the trees growing close together, their branches blocking out almost all of the light. It is silent here, with no forest-noises and nothing but her uneven breathing to displace the dank air.

The ThunderClan medicine cat takes a step foreward, hesitant, and looks around. No, she decides, she has never set foot here before. For that, she is glad. This forest is not natural.

Deciding to give it one more chance, Roselight tries once again to contact one of her ancestors. "Leafpatch? Silvermist? Is anyone here?"

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Screeching - as though every creature in the forest has taken up the panicked cry at the same time. The noise is so loud that it hurts Roselight's ear, even when she has flattened them to her head and tried to move away from the noise. It surrounds her on all sides, from every corner, every leaf, every tree. Cries of pain and fear, of anger and sorrow, like everything that has ever gone wrong is being protested in that very moment.

Roselight lets out a loud hiss and shakes her head. Then she takes off through the underbrush, squeezing between trees and flying over the fallen leaves, trying to put as much space as she can between herself and the horrendous sound.

It doesn't work. In fact, the faster she runs, the louder it gets.

As she runs, the aimless screaming seems to form words. Incoherant at first but, after a moment, Roselight is aware of the what they are saying.

_A blizzard races across the water - _**help me** - _fleeing from the fallen as the wind of the sea_ - **I'm lost** - _tears into the hearts filled with evil, silencing them _- **they can't find me here** - _for all eternity._

A root seems to tear itself from the ground, snagging one of Roselight's paws and sending her tumbling onto the ground. Burrs tear at her pelt, sending small pricks of pain racing through her.

Around her, the forest keeps howling.

_Without the wind -_** but I'm scared** - _all is lost_.

The noise reaches a crescendo, once more nothing but aimless calling. It lasts for just a moment long and then, with no warning, it ends. All at once. The forest is completely and utterly silent.

Roselight cannot ever remember being so afraid - and when she wakes up, bits of moss stuck in her fur and the scent of decay surrounding her, that fear is still there.


	2. Snow Rot

A/N: Second chapter! Yay! Again, this was written for a challenge on the Warriors Challenge Forum. Enjoy, peoples!

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"Roselight?" Waterpaw calls out, pushing her head through the layer of lichen that hangs over the entrance to the medicine cats den. The tart scent of herbs greets her, strong enough that she wrinkles her nose.

She doesn't understand how any cat can sleep in here. The air is so bitter and rank, like a piece of prey that has begun to rot. Even coming in here to speak with the elder she-cat puts her through enough of the smell that her stomach churns - living in this den would just be unbareable.

"Roselight?" She calls out again, this time a bit more impatiant.

A shuffle near the back of the den catches her attention, but no cat answers her call. Roselight's den is made into a crevice in the rock wall, half-concealed by the lichen that covers the entrance. In the front of the den, moss nests litter the floor. At the moment they are empty, and this prompts Waterpaw to send a silent thanks to StarClan, as all of the Clan cats are healthy. The further back the crevice goes, the darker it gets, until the shadows are almost too thick to see through. The apprentice knows that Roselight's nest is at the far back, a bundle of moss and feathers pressed up against the carefully assorted herbs.

Something else that Waterpaw can't imagine. She knows that she would never get any rest if the bitter-smelling plants were so close to her nest.

"Roselight, this is important." Waterpaw says. "Blizzardpelt sent me to speak with you."

That must get the other cats attention, because a pair of nervous green eyes suddenly appear from the shadows. A moment later, the faint out-line of a ginger body makes itself known as Roselight creeps towards the front of her den. There are bits of moss stuck to her pelt, as though she has just woken up, and a tawny feather clings to one ear.

"Waterpaw? Is that you?" Roselight asks, voice slightly wary. Then she shakes her head and closes her eyes tight, as though trying to clear her mind. When she opens them back up, the nervousness has been replaced by an almost absent look. "Of course it's you. What did you say you needed, kit?"

The nickname is affectionate, Waterpaw knows, but it sends a jolt of anger through her all the same. She's had enough of that today - of being called a kit and being looked down on. She flicks her tail irritably and narrows her eyes.

"I said, Blizzardpelt sent me to speak with you." Waterpaw mutters.

Roselight gives and absent nod, eyes scanning the area behind the grey-blue apprentice. "Right. Well, make it quick please. I need to go speak with Duskstar."

That surprises Waterpaw, and she tilts her head slightly in confusion. Typically, Roselight does her best to avoid speaking with the sharp-tounged leader. Something about a thorn, a badger, and pulling rank. Or so the elders say, Waterpaw was still bound to the nursury when it happened and doesn't actually remember it.

On normal days, this would concern the young she-cat. Roselight is one of the few warriors in ThunderClan that actually enjoys speaking with her. The ginger she-cat always makes time to listen to stories about Waterpaw's day, offering concolences in return. To not be holding the medicine cat's attention is beyond unusual.

Her sour mood brushes away any traces of worry though, and she ends up just letting out an agitated meow.

"Blizzardpelt wants you to stay here instead of going to the gathering tonight." Waterpaw grumbles. "He says that you need to keep an eye on Featherkit. She still says that her legs are hurting her."

Of course, Blizzardpelt had used a different wording. One filled with nothing but loathing for Larkwing, Featherkit's mother, who he felt was over-reacting. If he had bothered to go check on the kit himself, Waterpaw thinks to herself, then he would know different.

There is no way that a kit can fake pain like that. No way that a mother can not be worried.

Roselight gives an absent nod. That makes sense, she supposes, and under normal circumstances she might even say such. At the moment though, her mind is still stuck on the horrid dream that had come to her the night before.

On the words that still echo in her mind, so lost-sounding. As though there was no hope left for anyone.

"Alright. Thank you for letting me know, Waterpaw. I'll make sure to keep an eye on her." Roselight says - and then she nudges her way past the apprentice, eyes locked onto the almost black pelt of their leader.

In the entrance of the medicine cat den, Waterpaw doesn't know whether she should feel abandoned or not.

* * *

"Sit over there." Blizzardpelt instructs, nodding towards a small crowd of apprentices. His brisk tone offers no room for arguement, even if Waterpaw had a retort for it.

As it is, she just nods at her mentor before padding across the clearing. The Gathering hasn't started yet, isn't even close to starting, actually, and most of the attending cats are still up milling around. The sound of happy greetings and gentle helloes fill Waterpaw's ears as she weaves her way through the cluster of cats.

"Nightpaw!" She calls out, letting out a soft purr at the sight of the WindClan apprentice.

The sleek, black tom turns away from the dark tabby that he'd been talking with and nods in her direction. There is an uncomfortable look in his light green eyes, and the fact that he doesn't get up to greet her sends a streak of worry through her.

Waterpaw walks over to her friend, giving him a friendly nuzzle on the shoulder. "You look unhappy. Is something wrong?"

"Of course something's wrong!" The dark brown tabby snaps at her, light amber eyes narrowed.

Waterpaw pulls her head back, giving the new cat a strange look. She doesn't recognize him and he's obviously smaller than both herself or Nightpaw. A new apprentice, then.

Twitching his ears in annoyance, Nightpaw drapes his tail across the smaller toms shoulders. "Behave, Volepaw. Waterpaw probably doesn't know what's going on. You don't have to be so mean to her."

Volepaw lets out a huff and turns his back on the other two cats, shoulders bunching up as he tucks his head towards his chest.

He looks sad, Waterpaw thinks. Like something is missing - which is wrong, because when a new apprentice goes to their first Gathering, they should be excited. She knows that she was. Eager to meet new cats and learn more about the other Clans. Maplepaw and Oakpaw, two other apprentices of her Clan, had been too.

"Nightpaw?" Waterpaw asks. "What's wrong? Is there a problem in WindClan?"

Rouges?

Foxes?

Twolegs?

The list is endless, really. Anything could be happening in her friends Clan. Anything at all.

The black tom gives a small nod, glancing over his shoulder at the younger apprentice as he does. Then he turns back to face Waterpaw - and she knows that whatever is plagueing the rival Clan is far worse than any of that. Worse than anything she can ever imagine.

Nightpaw looks broken. When he speaks, he sounds it too. "Eaglestar will explain when it's his turn to speak. I shouldn't...I shouldn't say anything until then."

Despite the fact that she desperatly wants to ask more questions, Waterpaw gives a nod. No sense upsetting the tom anymore, after all. So she sits down beside him, fur just barely brushing, and waits for the Gathering to start.

It doesn't take long. Impatient, Eaglestar leaps onto the Great Branch long before he normally would. He stands there, swishing his tail from side to side, until the other three leaders give up their conversations and join him. Once they are all there, he takes a step foreward.

"Please,' he asks the other leaders. 'let me go first. I have important news to share, something that will affect all of the Clans."

Waterpaw can see the hesitance in Duskstar's eyes, knows that he had wanted to announce the birth of Featherkit and Wingkit, but nods ascent all the same. Ashstar and Whitestar eventually do the same.

Eaglestar gives the other three leaders a grateful nod before turning towards the cats gathered before him.

"Almost eight new-leafs ago, WindClan was struck by an unknown illness." Eaglestar begins, and his voice is serious and steady. Dark amber eyes show nothing but pain when he looks out at the cats gathered below him. "I wasn't alive when it happened, but I know the stories well."

It's as though something has begun to suck the air out of the clearing. The once crisp breeze has vanished, leaving in its wake hot air and fear-scent. This is not an announcement that anycat wants to hear, especially not those who were alive when it happened.

Lizardtail, a ShadowClan cat and one of the oldest cats in any of the Clans, had barely been a kit when it happened. But he remembers the terror well. How every cat was on edge, waiting for the tell tale signs of pain that let them know they were doomed. How the medicine cats could do nothing but try to ease the pain - because there was no cure. Nothing that could bring the inflicted cats back to the land of the living.

Once you caught it, you died. There is no other way of putting it.

"Of course we know the stories, Eaglestar!" Poolfreeze calls out, voice cracking with old age and over use. Her grandfather was one of the cats killed by the disease, or so her mother had always insisted. "Why would you bring something like that up?"

A moment of silence.

A moment of brewing panic.

A moment where, looking up at the dark pelted tom, all that Waterpaw knows is a burning pain in her right hindleg.

Then Eaglestar says the words that every one is dreading and a cold chill runs down the ThunderClan apprentices spine.

**Lost**, the wind seems to be saying. Over and over, as the burning in Waterpaw's back legs gets worse. **Lost,** it wails and, even though it is just the wind, it sounds so lonely.

"The Snow Rot,' Eaglestar says, voice grave. 'is back."


	3. The Shadow

A/N: Look, another update! Obviously, you know that this was written for the Warriors Challenge Forum. I just feel the need to advertise it some more. ;) Link's in my profile, people! Why not go check it out? I swear that it's a great place and everyone there is super friendly!

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"Roselight, has StarClan spoken to you?" Duskstar asks, and though his voice is calm and steady, his eyes tell a different story. They show the fear that everycat at the lake currently feels, the worry that his Clan may be hit next. "Have they given you a warning?"

The light ginger she-cat sits across from him, half hidden by the shadows that his small den creates. She has her eyes closed, ears flat to her head. Though she hasn't yet spoken, not once since he arrived back from the Gathering and announced the dreadful, terrible, _horrible_ news, the fear scent coming off of her is obvious.

For a long time, she says nothing. Then she opens her eyes, clouded in thought, and gives a small nod.

"Perhaps they have, Duskstar." She whispers, and then she glances over her shoulder, as if expecting something to be there. In her mind, something is - something large and black and full of shadows, full of pain. Something that _shouldn't_ be there. That _shouldn't_ exist. "What if...What if the dream I had earlier spoke of this?"

"You said that dream didn't come from StarClan, Roselight!" Duskstar hisses, the fur along his neck bristling.

And, yes, that is what the she-cat had said earlier. That it couldn't have come from StarClan, because that was a place no star had ever touched. That was a place of disbelief, of betrayel, and of a pain unspeakable measures.

It was Fear, simple as that.

"I know that I did." Roselight says, and her voice is soft and her words slow, but they seem far too loud in the near-empty den all the same. "But what if I was wrong?"

Another lapse of silence. Then Duskstar gives a slow nod, amber eyes all but begging her to continue. He'll take any sort of comfort right then, any sort of sign that StarClan has not abandoned them to this disease.

"The blizzard races across the water, fleeing from the fallen as the wind of the sea tears into the hearts filled with evil, silencing them for all eternity. Without the wind, all is lost." Roselight murmurs, and in her mind she can once more hear that abhorred screeching that had filled her dream-forest. Against her will, the light ginger fur along her spine rises and she hunkers down against the cool ground, claws digging into the earth beneath her. "That's what I was told."

She refuses to think about the rest, about that lost, lost voice that had interrupted the prophecy.

She refuses to mention it.

She refuses to think about it.

So she doesn't, and the anger of the shadow-beast that isn't really there is almost palpable in the air.

"The blizzard, that might be the Snow Rot. It comes from a land across water...Fleeing from something?" Duskstar asks, tilting his head in slight confusion.

"Maybe...And then the _wind of the sea_, that could be referencing the cure. _Without the wind, all is lost_." Roselight meows, and she glances nervously at the lurking shadow.

It is silent, so very silent.

"What sort of wind could be a cure?" Duskstar demands, and now anger is creeping into his words. He pushes himself to his paws, dark grey tail flicking angrily. "What are we supposed to be looking for?"

"I don't know." Roselight answers, once more closing her eyes. Blocking out the _thing_ in the den. "But it has to do with water. It has to be _near_ water."

Silence. A brisk nod from Duskstar, ears flicking slightly in dismissal. "I need to think things over, Roselight. Tomorrow, you can go to WindClan. Speak to their medicine cat and see what you can find out."

"Of course." Roselight meows, and then she backs out of the den, refusing to show her back to the shapeless creature that hovers in the far corner of the den.

That night, she sleeps in the warriors den. No one questions her as to why.


End file.
